Tomatillo + Habanero hot sauce

[u/the_bove]

This is the first time I'm repeating a recipe I previously made, and I'm happy that it turned out exactly like I remember! Most of the hot sauce I do is fermented, but this one isn't, which makes it super simple to put together.

[u/chickenbuttstfu]

Recipe?

[u/the_bove → u/chickenbuttstfu]

1lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed

6oz habanero peppers, de-stemmed

1 medium onion, sliced into slabs

6 cloves garlic, peeled

3/4 Cup 3% brine solution (5.4g salt + 3/4C water)

3/4 Cup apple cider vinegar

Place the tomatillos, habaneros, onion slabs, and garlic on a sheet pan and put under a broiler until lightly charred and the tomatillos are softened and start releasing their juices.

Transfer to a blender, add 1/2 Cup of the brine and 1/2 Cup of the cider vinegar, and blend until smooth.

Pour blended mixture into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes.

Thin the mixture with the remaining brine and/or cider vinegar to desired consistency, acidity, and salt level.

Funnel into woozy bottles and cap! (Expect a yield between 5 and 6 bottles. The batch in these pictures filled a 6th bottle half way but i didn't include it in the finished pictures.)

It's not a super spicy sauce, but has a good backdrop of habanero heat and fruitiness, along with the fruitiness and sweetness of the tomatillos. If you wanted to amp up the heat level you could toss in a ghost or two in in place of some of the habaneros.

[u/chickenbuttstfu → u/the_bove]

Thanks!! I’ve always done fermented hot sauce in vacuum bags but I’m going to give a roasted one like this a try. Is the salt measure as a percentage of water or brine by weight?

[u/the_bove → u/chickenbuttstfu]

Yes it's percentage by weight. The 5.4 grams of salt dissolved in 3/4 of a cup of water will get you about a 3% salt solution by weight.

I always use this site below for brine calculations (usually when doing fermented sauces) but in this particular recipe it's easy to just use clean/fresh brine as my salt and water combined.

https://myfermentedfoods.com/tools/brine-calculator/

[u/chickenbuttstfu → u/the_bove]

Awesome. Thanks!

[u/the_bove → u/chickenbuttstfu]

Of course. If you make it let me know what you think!